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Progressive Party of Jefferson
| chairperson = John Hickenlooper | foundation = June 14, 1900 | merger = People's Party Christian Progressive League | student_wing = Students for Progress | youth_wing = Young Progressives | ideology = Pro-Americanism Factions: (formerly) (formerly) | political position = | headquarters = 789 Sherman Street, Suite 110, Denver, AR, Jefferson | international = | colors = Light green |seats1_title = General Assembly |seats1 = }} The Progressive Party is a center-left political party in Jefferson. Founded in 1900, it has grown to be one of the three major parties in Jefferson, along with the Libertarian Party and the National Constitution Party. The Progressive Party was formed by a merger of the People's Party, a party, and the Christian Progressive League, a group of organizations that supported and progressive . Both parties, while having different goals in some areas, supported reforms to promote and greater political and economic equality. The party rapidly grew, and in 1930, shortly after the beginning of the , the party's nominee, Edward Costigan, was elected president. The Costigan administration put in place major economic reforms, including the establishment of Jefferson's , and championed . The Progressive Party's current platform, adopted at the 2014 Progressive National Convention, includes support for , , , and , along with social liberal policies including legal and . The party was originally supported by conservative and poor farmers, but, as it grew and developed a more cohesive movement in support of progressive policies, it lost support among many conservatives who supported moralist social policies, and gained support among African-Jeffersonians, and now has a reliable base among youth, African-Jeffersonians, Hispanic-Jeffersonians, and the LGBT community. History Creation The Progressive Party originated as a party of social and economic reformers. The People's Party was formed in 1888 in response to the growth of industry and its effects on farmers and laborers. It supported and . The Christian Progressive League was established in 1883, unifying various small temperance parties. These parties soon became the two main third parties in Jeffersonian politics, but were able to achieve little. In 1900, , the leader of the People's Party, proposed the unification of these parties to strengthen their push for reforms. At the Aspen Convention, members of both parties officially established the Progressive Party. Many members of the People's Party believed that this would diminish the party's support for and , and left the party to form the People's Labor Party, which joined the Democratic Party in 1909, while many members of the Christian Progressive League thought that the merger would decrease the party's support of Prohibition, as it later did, and left the party and formed the National Temperance Party, which later joined the Republican Party in 1921. 1900-1917 The Progressive Party's popular support was small at the time of its establishment, but it soon began to grow rapidly as its ranks swelled with Democrats and progressive Republicans, and its ideology became more coherent. Opposition from Progressives forced the Democratic Party to support some policies, however support for the Progressive Party continued to grow. The Progressive Party supported , and pushed for Jefferson's entry into , contrary to the Guggenheim Doctrine, which declared that Jefferson would only enter a war that directly threatened it. However, the discovery of the , which offered lands bordering or possibly including Jefferson's territory to in exchange for aid to led to increased support for war, and the General Assembly voted to declare war on Germany. President Shafroth signed the declaration on April 8, 1917. 1917-1930 The Progressive Party continued to push for economic and political reforms after World War I, however the post-war prosperity led to a growth of support for pro-business policies espoused by the Republican Party and Democrats. The Democratic Party, having lost much of its populist branch to the Progressive Party, dissolved in 1927 and was reestablished as the Liberal Party to attract moderate Republicans. In 1929, the led to a major growth of support for progressive economic policies, and in the 1930 election, Edward Costigan, the Progressive candidate, was elected in a landslide. He put in place economic regulations and policies to rebuild the economy.